New Gaudí house museum in Barcelona

Gaudí's Casa Vicens opens as new public museum in Barcelona.

Casa Vicens, the first home designed and built by Modernist Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí (1852-1926) has opened as a museum in Barcelona following a €4.5 million restoration project over the last three years.Listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site, the Moorish-influenced house was built between 1882 and 1888, early in Gaudí's career, and has never been open to the public until now.The building's design was commissioned by Manuel Vicens Montaner, a friend and patron of Gaudí who is celebrated for his Modernist style and elaborately-coloured architectural features.The building's restoration was funded by MoraBanc, a private bank in Andorra that acquired the property in March 2014.Describing Casa Vicens as the first Gaudí masterpiece, the restoration project manager Mercedes Mora said the building helped to usher in Modernism in Catalonia and Art Nouveau around Europe.Gaudi is best known for his design of Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia whose construction began at around the same time as Casa Vicens but remains unfinished.Casa Vicens can be visited daily from 10.00-20.00, for full details see website.